The Cubs just released their promotional items for this season: There are some pretty fun player bobbleheads, including one of Ryne Sandberg’s statue, plus Clark the Cub plushies for the kids. There’s also this incredible Pat Hughes sweater shirt. Guess I’ll be planning a trip if I can.
This Generation’s “Mr. Cub”
While we wait for the World Series to start (and end) so the Cubs can finally do something to get back to the postseason, I realized a couple things that stemmed from the previous entry. The one thing is an extension of that blog, where it’s way more fun when the Cubs win, and that could generate far more goodwill …
Kris Bryant is good at sports
A little over 3 years ago the Cubs drafted Kris Bryant with the 2nd pick of the 2013 First Year Player Draft*. He was considered either the top prospect or close enough to the top that few teams, if any, would have passed on him given the chance to take him that high. It was somewhat surprising to see the Houston …
Series Preview: Philadelphia Phillies (1-2) at Chicago Cubs (1-2)
Cubs HOF Ryne Sandberg returns to Wrigley for the Cubs home opener. The Phillies opened the season with a 14-10 win against the Rangers in which included a Jimmy Rollins grand slam and Cliff Lee picking up a win for giving up eight runs in five innings. Team Overviews These are 2013 numbers, NL rank is in parens Cubs wRC+: …
Worst Cubs offense ever?
I was checking out Starlin Castro's disappointing offensive season on Fangraphs and thought I'd check to see where the Cubs rank offensively as a team. I didn't realize it had gotten so ugly. Their 77 wRC+ is dead last behind the Mariners at 81. The two offense's may actually be equal if we eliminated the pitcher in the NL, but …
Ballhawks can take 2012 off
One thing I've noticed while looking over the projections the past couple months is just how little power the Cubs have. Their starting lineup is practically filled with singles hitters. Alfonso Soriano still has some pop and so does Geovany Soto, but the rest of the lineup has none. I was wondering when the last time the Cubs starting lineup …
30 years ago yesterday the Cubs acquired Ryne Sandberg
Chris Jaffe over at The Hardball Times posted an article yesterday on the 30th anniversary of the Ryne Sandberg trade. And one more thing: DeJesus was several years younger than Bowa. To be precise, he was seven years and one month younger. Thus even though Bowa had the reputation and the name value and the Gold Gloves, in order to …
Cubs next manager
The day we learned Jim Hendry was fired, I talked about how listing general manager candidates would be lazy. The reality at that time was that there wasn’t a general manager in baseball that wasn’t a candidate. The media now seems content to say that had the Red Sox not collapsed Theo would have stuck around, but that’s naive. The …
The Cubs Are Off, Here’s Video of The Sandberg Game
I’ve talked about this before and how it is one of the highlights of my life, so let’s just sit quietly and enjoy MLB allowing me to embed this video for the first time in the history of ever. Happy 27th Anniversary, Sandberg Game. Dude, we’re getting old.